


Terror

by Kelticmoon



Series: Fixit Series compliant fics [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fear, Hallucinations, Hallucinogens, Kinda, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Protective Shiro (Voltron), Scared Keith (Voltron), Sheith Month 2019, only because it doesn't fit with current season 2 episodes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-24
Updated: 2019-07-24
Packaged: 2020-07-09 16:02:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19890541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: What started as a resource gathering mission ends with Keith seeing things.





	Terror

**Author's Note:**

> Day 25- Free Day  
> Compliant with my Fixit fic

The Castle of Lions stops at a planet with 4 moons orbiting a blue star.

“My scanners are reading that the planet is predominantly inhabited by plant and animal life,” Pidge tells them over the coms from the Green Lion.

“Remind me again why we’re here,” Lance asks from Blue.

“Food resources,” Hunk says from Yellow. “We’re running out of stuff for me to cook that isn’t food goo and apparently there are plants that are edible here.”

“Not just edible, Number 2,” Coran tells them from the Castle Bridge. “Several plants on Zenn-La actually NEED other animals to eat them for the betterment of the species.”

“And those are the plants we’re looking for, correct?” Keith asks.

“Indeed they are, Number 4.”

“We are not merely looking for edible plants, either,” Allura explains. “A number of animals and fish species need to be eaten as well. We shall send you all pictures of the plants and animals that are edible.”

“Alright Team, lets split up,” Shiro says. “Lance will focus on deep sea fish since Blue is most adept for water travel, Hunk will focus on freshwater fish, Pidge and I will focus on the plants, and Keith; you’re in charge of hunting.”

“Roger!”

“At least the atmosphere's breathable,” Keith comments. “We can keep our mouth pieces open when we’re outside the Lions."

"Well, except you Lance,” Pidge teases.

“Jokes on you, Pidge! I'm a master free-diver! I don't need my suit to keep me from drowning,” Lance tells her back.

~

An hour and a half later.

~

“Alright Paladins, that should be plenty,” Shiro says over the coms. “Let’s get this back to the Castleship.”

After loading the freshly butchered meat from the animals Keith hunted (that look oddly like rams); he returns to pick up his knife from where he was cleaning the meat. He accidentally brushes a nearby vine growing up a tree with a bunch of flower buds on it as he picks it up.

Suddenly, all of the ones facing Keith opens and he’s immediately met with a face full of pollen.

Keith coughs for a moment.

“You alright, Keith?” Shiro asks.

Keith waves the pollen out of his face.

“Fine, just some dust."

They all return to the ship and put away the food they’ve gathered before going about their business.

~

Two quintants later, Keith awakens with a start for no apparent reason.

Before he can figure out why, the alarm starts blaring. He immediately forgets as he changes into his armor and runs to the bridge.

As quintants became a movement however, it happens more frequently and is harder to ignore or forget.

A movement after it starts, Keith is walking through the halls of the ship when he hears whispers; like he would if he were wearing his helmet with the volume turned down. He can’t quite make out what the whispers are saying, but they slowly become a constant thing as the quintants go by. As soon as he enters a room with someone else in it, it stops.

This continues over the course of the movement, slowly growing worse by the day.

A few quintants after the whispers start, Keith is alone on the training deck when he starts to get the feeling he’s being watched.

At first when he looks, no one's there. A few quintants later however, he starts to see shadows out of the corner of his eye when it happens. They always disappear when he turns his head.

Now it’s happening all the time, whether he’s with someone or not. Soon the shadows become shadow figures that are more obvious and the whispers become more tangible but still garbled sounds.

All while this is going on, Keith says nothing to the others about it.

It doesn’t take him long to figure out he’s the only one seeing and hearing all of this. The lack of reaction whenever one happens when Keith’s with them is a dead giveaway. The last thing he needs is Lance or anyone picking on him for seeing and hearing shit that isn’t there. Sure Shiro would probably believe him, but he doesn't want to bother him. Especially since Lance has been accusing Shiro of playing favorites lately.

~

Late one quintant, everyone is jolted out of bed by a sudden BOOM! that shakes the whole ship followed by a loud, echoing roar. 

Pidge, Shiro, Lance, and Hunk all throw on their Paladin armor and follow the roars to the Red Lion's bay where they find Coran and Allura still dressed in their pajamas.

They entered just in time to see Red slam himself into the wall of the bay.

“What’s the deal with Red?” Lance asks. 

“We’re not sure ourselves, Number 3.” Coran tells him. “The Lions have never done this before.”

“He’s behaving as though he were attempting to rescue his Paladin,” Allura comments with a frown. “But he keeps trying to go further into the ship.”

That’s when Shiro notices the lack of said Lion's Paladin.

“Where’s Keith?”

~

Right when this begins, Keith is awakened from the worst nightmare he's ever had by a sudden jolt that knocks him out of his bed.

He jumps when he doesn't recognize where he is. He fell asleep in his room on the Castle of Lions, but the room he's in looks more like a prison cell in the dungeon of a castle.

He hears guards run past his cell before creeping up to the door. He tests the door and when it opens peeks out of the doorway to find himself in a long dark hallway.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” he whispers.

Nothing.

“Shiro? Allura? Anybody?”

He swallows nervously and slowly creeps down the hall, hand on his knife.

He comes to a corner and turns down it to see an even darker hallway. He continues like this down the hall with his hand on his knife, occasionally coming to a fork or a corner and turning down it.

Every so often, he'll feel a sudden jolt that will knock him into a wall before hearing a loud rumble and some whispers.

Soon he comes to a dark stairwell.

Keith steels himself a moment before ascending the stairs.

As he cautiously makes his way up the stairs, they jolt suddenly from side to side; making him hold onto the handrail to stabilize himself. The jolt is immediately followed by another loud rumble and more whispers. 

He shakes his head out before he keeps moving up the stairs.

~

Shiro and the others reach Keith’s room to find the door open with him not in it.

“Er… he doesn’t decorate much, does he?” Hunk comments while looking at the bare room.

Pidge runs a thermal scan of his berth.

“He was definitely here not long ago. His bed's still warm.”

“Then where is he?” Hunk asks worriedly.

Lance scoffs.

“He’s probably on the training deck. Let's all just go back to bed. I'm sure he's fine."

"I don't think so, Lance," Pidge tells him.

“The Red Lion would not be behaving so unless the Lion’s Paladin were truly in danger,” Allura reminds him.

“Let’s split up and look for him,” Shiro tells them. “Coran, go up to the bridge and see if you can get a reading on where he is in the ship. Allura, see if you can calm Red down a little, Lance and Hunk, you two follow the hall to the left, Pidge and I will go to the right.”

They split up to search for Keith.

Soon Shiro and Pidge come to a fork in the hall.

“I’ll take this one, you take that one,” Shiro tells her before they split up.

~

In the stairwell, Keith comes to a door that opens into another long corridor. Just like with the stairwell, the hall is dark and will occasionally rock violently from side to side as he travels down it followed by the same whispers and a loud rumble.

Soon Keith comes to another fork.

Unlike the others, one fork leads to a somehow darker corridor while the other actually gets lighter.

As he turns down the lighter one, he hears a sudden noise down the darker hallway. When he whirls around to look down it however he suddenly hears movement down the brighter one, making him look down it instead.

Keith’s voice shakes as he speaks.

“Wh...who's there?!”

Suddenly, a group of monsters appear out of nowhere down the hallway.

Keith yells before turning and bolting down the darker hallway; the monsters chasing after him.

His heart pounds in his chest as he runs.

~

“I'm detecting Keith’s signature two floors above you,” Coran tells them through the coms.

"Copy!”

The four Paladins take the closest lift up to that level.

~

Keith races down the hall to another fork.

Before he can decide which fork to take; he starts to hear the sound of more monsters approaching him from in front of him.

Keith screams and runs down the open hall away from them.

No matter how fast Keith runs, the monsters continue to chase after him.

"Shiro! Somebody! Help me!"

~

As Hunk steps out of his lift, he sees Keith.

“Hey, I see him!” Hunk tells the others before calling out to the Red Paladin.

~

Keith hears a roaring sound up ahead of him and looks to see a large, lumbering bear like monster with white, yellow, and black fur and razor sharp black claws blocking the path across from him as he comes to a three way intersection.

“N…no! Go away!”

~

Hunk stops in his tracks when he notices the look of pure terror on Keith’s face as he skids into a turn before running down the adjacent hallway.

A tic later, Hunk runs after him.

“I think I know why Red’s going nuts,” Hunk tells the other Paladins through the coms. “Keith’s scared shitless.”

Lance sees Keith and Hunk run past and falls into step next to Hunk.

“Of what?!” Shiro asks from his hallway.

“You got me, man! He took one look at me and ran away. It’s like he didn’t recognize me!”

~

Now there are two chasing Keith in addition to the others farther behind them; the big lumbering one and what looks like a tall skinny bird monster with white, blue, and black feathers, a short, skinny neck, sharp beak, and claws on its long skinny legs.

As Keith comes to another three way intersection, he sees a smaller frog-like monster appear down the path across with white, green, and black skin with big, round eyes.

He immediately changes course down the open hallway.

~

Pidge sees him running up and quickly scans him as he runs past her.

“Guys, Keith’s brainwaves are going crazy!” Pidge tells them as she falls into step with Lance and Hunk. “It’s like how Shiro’s were when he was in the cryopod.”

“He’s having a nightmare?!” Hunk asks.

“But he’s wide awake!” Lance exclaims.

"Just because he looks awake doesn't mean he is!" Shiro reminds them.

~

Keith eventually comes to a hallway with large windows covering the entire wall on one side.

There’s a sudden BOOM of thunder that shakes the room; shaking the floor out from under him and sending him sprawling. A second roar of thunder is heard immediately after.

He sees the three monsters enter after him and crawls backward on the floor away from them.

He screams as thunder shakes the room once more before scrambling to his feet.

"L...leave me alone!"

He runs for the door at the far end of the hall.

~

The trio flinch at Keith’s scream.

“We have to stop him before he hurts himself!” Lance exclaims as they follow after him again.

Pidge looks ahead of them and gasps.

“He’s running straight for the airlock!”

Pidge stumbles as Red slams into the wall of the ship again. She pulls out her bayard as his roar echoes through the hall and fires her grapple at Keith to try and slow him down.

~

Keith glances back and sees the frog monster try to catch him with its tongue. 

He uses his knife to knock the tongue away and keeps running.

~

“Shiro! Stop him! He doesn’t have his armor on!”

Shiro is running up toward said airlock from a different direction when Keith appears in front of him. 

As Keith stops to open the airlock, Shiro tackles him from the side.

Shiro turns as they go down so that he hits the ground first with a grunt; Keith held protectively in his arms.

~

A fourth monster suddenly appears out of nowhere and grabs him away from the door.

As soon as they land, Keith immediately starts fighting against its hold.

No matter how hard he fights, he can’t get free.

"Lemme go! Shiro! Somebody! Help me!"

~

Shiro holds on for dear life as Keith calls out to him.

“Keith, it’s me! I'm right here!”

Red slams into the wall of the ship again with a loud BOOM.

Keith jumps in Shiro’s arms and starts to breathe erratically as he fights.

An alarm goes off on Hunk’s suit as he, Lance, and Pidge reach them.

“Keith’s heart-rate is getting too high, guys! If we don’t calm him down soon, he’s going to go into cardiac arrest!”

Keith is sobbing as he fights Shiro's hold on him. 

Shiro adjusts so he can better look at Keith and immediately recognizes the glazed look in Keith’s tear filled eyes as he looks back at Shiro.

“It’s going to be ok, Keith…”

~

Keith hears the monster holding him start to make garbled sounds as it looks down at him.

It’s black and white and just a little bigger than the bearlike one, only more turtle-like with a hard shell and what look like black and white claws.

“Please, someone help me!”

~

Keith's fighting is growing weaker from exhaustion.

“I don’t think he knows it’s us, Shiro,” Pidge concludes sadly. “My scans are showing some kind of hallucinogen in his blood stream.”

“He’s hallucinating?” Lance asks.

“Explains why he screamed at the sight of us,” Hunk remarks sadly. “And why he’s fighting Shiro so hard while calling out to him at the same time.”

~

Keith hears garbled noises from the monsters like they're communicating with one another.

He starts to wonder why none of them are attacking him when he feels the one holding him shift a little so it can move a clawed limb while still holding Keith with his remaining three limbs.

Keith flinches away with a sob and resumes fighting to get away.

“N…no…”

~

“Shh…” Shiro soothes softly.

He covers Keith’s eyes gently with his right hand.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Keith… I would _never_ hurt you…”

~

Keith jumps at the touch as it covers his eyes and immediately stops fighting in shock.

It doesn’t feel at all like the claw he’s expecting. It’s hard like metal, but it definitely has fabric covering it; not scaly flesh like he's seeing. It feels like it’s a hand; not a claw.

He uses his hands to feel the limb holding him and notices it feels like an arm. He feels the monster's legs that are wrapped around him and notes they feel like they have something hard on them, not the soft skin like Keith's expecting.

~

“Shh…” Shiro soothes again without removing his hand as the Red Paladin feels around. “That's it... It’s ok.”

~

The sounds the creature is making is still garbled, but now that Keith’s realized the claws might not be claws the sounds are starting to sound familiar.

He shakily moves his hands up to feel more and its covered in a hard armor, with a stretchy fabric around the limbs. As he works his way up to the monster's face, it doesn't move as Keith feels its face.

Keith's hand finds a human nose with a single scar across the bridge.

“Sh…Sh… Shiro?”

~

Shiro smiles at him softly and nods.

“That’s right, it’s me.”

~

Even though the sounds it’s making is still a little garbled; Keith recognizes the "monster's" voice.

A voice he would follow to the edge of the universe and back.

A voice he trusts more than anyone.

“S...scared."

~

“I know, Keith. I know. We’ll figure this out, I promise.”

~

Shiro's voice finally becomes clear enough that Keith can understand him.

Keith suddenly hears something shift beside them and flinches away as he remembers the other monsters.

“Monsters…”

~

“It’s just Pidge, Hunk, and Lance. I promise, they're not going to hurt you."

Keith reaches a trembling hand out.

Lance is the first to kneel down so Keith can confirm its him, followed by Hunk and Pidge at his side. 

~

Keith's hand quickly locates the glasses on Pidge's small face, Hunk's headband, and the lack of a beak on Lance's face.

“O… okay…”

There’s a BOOM again that makes everything rock again and sends Keith flinching out of Shiro’s hand, followed by the whispers in Keith’s ear again as well as the rumbling sound.

“Loud!” Keith cries.

~

“That's Red trying to get to you,” Shiro assures him calmly.

"Whispers!"

“The whispers are probably Red trying to talk to you through your bond.”

~

Keith suddenly hears other monsters in the halls around them. 

He glances and can see them running toward him. 

He starts panicking and fighting to get away again with his hands over his ears.

“M…monsters!”

~

Shiro holds Keith tighter and refuses to let go.

“Whatever you’re seeing, Keith, whatever you're hearing; I promise you, it isn't real. You’re safe.”

“B…but…”

Keith is frantically looking around them.

Shiro covers Keith's eyes again.

“They aren't real, Keith," Shiro repeats. "I promise you, they aren't real. You **know** I would _never_ let anything hurt you… But I need you to calm down, ok? Your heart's beating way too fast. Can you take a few deep breaths for me?"

Shiro watches Keith try to do as Shiro asks.

“There you go,” Shiro encourages him with a smile.

"Dark... scared... confused..."

“I know, we’ll figure this out, I promise. Just keep fighting it; ok?”

“Hallucinogen…” Coran mutters thoughtfully to himself then. “Ah ha! I believe I may know what's happening! Number 5, send me your scans.”

Pidge does as she’s told.

“I thought as much…”

Coran sends an image to Pidge's computer.

“Nightmare Poppy Pollen.”

“Night-what now?” Lance asks.

“Nightmare Poppies are one of the many plants from Zenn-La which are edible, but should be avoided at all costs,” Allura explains from the Red's bay. “To keep from being eaten, the plant’s flowers emit pollen that when inhaled causes the victim to have hallucinations and grow paranoid.”

“But it’s been almost a phoeb since we were at Zenn-La!” Pidge says.

“The effects of the pollen have a delayed release,” Coran explains.

“Unfortunately the longer it is infecting the victim, the worse the hallucinations get,” Allura states.

“Will it leave his system on its own?” Hunk asks.

“No,” Coran tells them. “It’ll remain until it either tricks him into killing himself or literally scares him to death.”

"Explains why he tried to go for a spacewalk without a spacesuit," Lance comments.

“So how do we help him?” Pidge asks calmly.

“Well the good news is, we can make an antidote. One of the plants we got from Zenn-La counteracts it,” Coran tells them.

“Hunk and I will help you with that!” Pidge says immediately as she and the Yellow Paladin head for the lab.

“In the meantime, I’ll come join you to help keep him calm now that Red has stopped trying to destroy my ship,” Allura tells them.

“Did you hear that, Keith?” Shiro asks the younger man without uncovering his eyes.

Keith shakes his head.

“Garbled.”

“Can you understand me?”

Keith nods.

“Coran knows what’s wrong,” Shiro explains. “Pidge and Hunk have gone to help make the antidote. Just hold on a little longer.”

Periodically, Keith will flinch and say he hears the shrieking again. Each time, Shiro promises him it isn’t real. His trembling still hasn’t stopped, but his heart rate is stabilizing.

“Shhh… its ok…”

After a while, Keith screws his eyes shut and hides his face into Shiro’s chest plate with his hands over his ears.

“That’s it, Keith. Fight it.”

~

Suddenly, a blinding white light appears in the hall behind Lance.

Keith peaks out and sees what looks like one of those angels he used to see in pictures of in the more religious foster and group homes. She’s an ethereal kind of beautiful and her light is making the monsters shriek in pain and fright as they shrink back and away.

~

Lance and Shiro see Keith blink wide eyed up at Allura in wonder as she joins them.

“Weird. You’re the first one Keith hasn’t screamed in terror at the sight of,” Lance points out, sounding just a little bit jealous.

Keith squints at Allura as she kneels down next to him.

"Bright..." he says in awe.

“How is he otherwise?” Allura asks.

“For the most part, he’s calmed down,” Shiro tells her calmly. "Every so often something will spook him and he'll start thrashing again but he's been fighting it."

“Though he’s talking in one word sentences for some reason,” Lance comments.

“Pretty...” Keith mutters as he squints at Allura.

“See?” Lance says as Allura blushes.

"Nightlight," Keith tries to say.

"He keeps mentioning monsters," Shiro mentions thoughtfully. "Originally he was seeing us as monsters and occasionally he'll mention it's dark."

"Perhaps whatever he sees me as is keeping them away," Allura guesses.

"Like a nightlight?" Lance asks.

"He keeps squinting at me and he said I was "bright" and "pretty" so it makes sense."

Allura holds Keith's hand and Keith holds tight to it as well as Shiro.

"Safe."

They watch Keith slowly fall into a restless sleep.

Pidge and Hunk return with Coran then.

“We have…!”

Allura, Shiro, and Lance all shush Coran when Keith flinches in his sleep.

Coran immediately starts whispering as they reach the four of them.

“We have the antidote…”

Coran takes out a syringe with a green liquid in it and injects it into Keith’s neck. Keith flinches, but otherwise continues sleeping. His sleep quickly becomes more restful.

“There we go. No more hallucinations,” Coran whispers.

Shiro shifts them so he can slip an arm under Keith’s knees and lifts him easily.

They walk in silence as he carries Keith to his quarters and goes inside.

“So… now that Keith isn't hallucinating that we're all monsters…” Lance begins as they watch from the door while Shiro lays Keith on the bed and covers him up. “Anyone have any idea HOW Keith inhaled Scary Flower Powder?”

“Nightmare Poppy Pollen,” Allura corrects him.

“Whatever.”

Pidge snaps her fingers.

“Remember when Keith randomly started coughing right before we left Zenn-La?” she asks. “He said it was dust. I’ll bet that’s when it happened.”

“But if Keith’s been seeing and hearing things for the equivalent of a month, why did he not simply tell someone?” Allura asks in concern.

“Well, on Earth, seeing and hearing things that aren’t there isn’t exactly something you want to go around televising,” Hunk explains. “People are better about it now than they used to be, but it’s still not something that gets talked about a whole lot.”

“Especially if you’re worried someone will pick on you for it,” Pidge states while pointedly looking at Lance.

“Why are you looking at me?!” Lance asks indignantly.

“You do like to pick on Keith a lot, man,” Hunk points out. “You also have a habit of brushing him off or downplaying when something bad is happening to him.”

“I’m not a complete dick, Hunk!” Lance says back.

“Does Keith know that?” Hunk asks him. “Because it seems like only times you’re **not** an asshole to him is when he’s either unconscious or incoherent.”

Lance doesn’t answer.

“Add that to how paranoid and fearful that pollen probably made him; it’s no wonder Keith didn’t tell anyone,” Pidge concludes.

“Then why didn’t he tell Shiro?!” Lance asks defensively. “I mean, Keith clearly thinks he's Shiro's favorite so what happened there?!”

“Keith doesn't think he's Shiro's favorite, man. He and Shiro are best friends,” Hunk points out.

“Still!”

“If the pollen was making Keith hallucinate us as monsters, the paranoia it caused likely made him afraid to tell me,” Shiro tells them when he joins them.

At least Shiro hopes that’s the case.

“Whatever! I’m going back to bed!” Lance states before heading for his own room.

The others shrug and follow suit.

"I'll wormhole us to a quieter part of the universe while Keith is recovering," Allura tells them before heading for the bridge.

Shiro moves to go back to his room but hesitates a moment to look back at Keith in his berth.

It takes Shiro all of a second to make a decision.

~

Keith awakens to find Shiro sitting on his knees at Keith’s bedside with his head resting on his arm; Keith’s hand tucked protectively inside his. 

Shiro clearly fell asleep while keeping vigil.

"Shiro?"

Shiro stirs a little before his gray eyes blink open.

He lifts his head when he sees Keith's awake.

"Hey..." Shiro says with a relieved smile.

Keith notices Shiro's in his Paladin armor.

"What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Shiro asks.

Keith shakes his head.

Shiro explains what happened. 

As he explains, Keith remembers bits and pieces.

Keith lays back against his pillow as silence envelops them.

"Hey Keith?" Shiro begins as he looks at the other man.

"Hmmm?"

"Why didn't you tell me you were seeing and hearing things?" Shiro asks, trying not to sound hurt. "You know you can tell me anything... right?"

Keith's quiet for a moment

"I was afraid... I don't remember why... maybe it was the flower or whatever... I just was..." he says, confirming Shiro's suspicions.

Keith groans then as he remembers.

"Lance is never going to let me hear the end of this, is he?"

"Don't worry about that now."

Shiro stands to leave. 

"Just get some rest, ok?"

Shiro moves toward the door.

"Hey Shiro?" Keith mutters.

Shiro turns back to his friend.

"Hmmm?"

"Thanks... for watching over me while I slept..."

Shiro smiles back at him.

"You do the same when I have nightmares. Just returning the favor."

Keith drifts off to sleep again as Shiro leaves the room.

**Author's Note:**

> If you've read my Season 8 fixit fic, you know why Keith is seeing Allura as a glowing angel instead of a monster and why Keith is reduced to one word sentences for a while. If you haven't, please do!


End file.
